Thursday, June 30, 2011

Thing 2, Thing 3 and Boomer Angst

The blog recommendations in Thing 2 were very helpful. I have subscribed to "Librarian by Day" & NeLearns 2.0 on Facebook. Of course, my blog mentor is NP's own Dancing Thoughts from Cranefarm.

The best part of the NCompass live presentation was listening to Charlotte and Niamh. Their enthusiasm is contagious! In addition, the global scope the project demonstrates the power of social media.

Now, Thing 3 really got me to thinking(always a dangerous thing)about my online identity. I don't have a strong online identity, only this blog as my professional platform and a Facebook page w/a small friends list for my personal life. I have spent 35 years or more crafting my professional "brand" in my community, so do I really need to increase my online presence? Do I have time to maintain it? The answer to the time dilemma is, probably not.

So, if I were to expand my own online brand I would use the suggestions from Boyd and Fleet. I would connect to the global community using cpd23 as a staring point. I would become more vocal in Facebook, make more comments to the participants of NElearns and cultivate more connections in the library community outside of where I live.

As part of Thing 3 I did Google myself. 14 Gayla Ward's are found online. Unfortunately, one is a murder victim. Yikes! That dampened my interest in the exercise.

Thing 3 did make me examine how I do present myself online and how I could expand what I have already established.